Featured App

Mobile Security & Antivirus

This week's roundup is brought to you by ESET Mobile Security & Antivirus. This full-featured security suite automatically scans downloaded apps and files for malicious content, and quarantines them when something dangerous is detected. The app also includes an anti-theft feature that allows users to remotely lock, locate, or wipe their Android phone or tablet, or even emit a "siren" on command. The app is free, but the premium service includes more robust tools like suspicious activity alerts, safe browsing, call and text blocking, scheduled antivirus scans, and more. It's compatible with phones and tablets running Android 2.3 or later.

Apps

VHS Camcorder

It's an odd world we live in, where grown technology enthusiasts can record crystal-clear video at 4K and/or slow-motion with any number of Instagram-grade filters, but they long for the comfortingly fuzzy and unfocused home videos of decades ago. VHS Camcorder will give you that, if you really must have it, plus special effects like tracking, distortion, and even crappy audio. For some reason, it doesn't work on rooted devices.

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It's 1984, and you've got a camcorder. It'll look that way when you record and send old, messed up-looking videos to friends. They'll swear you built a time machine: "OMG, how'd you shoot that?" With VHS Camcorder, you'll make home movies that look and sound like video tapes pulled out of storage after 30 years. Remember that birthday when Dad pulled out the huge camcorder and chased everyone around with it? Or that Little League game when you struck out in front of all the girls? And who could forget the day of that embarrassing school play when you fell off the stage?

Hub Keyboard, Preview

For the record, this is actually the second Microsoft-branded software keyboard to make it to Android, the first being the Keyboard for Excel with its swanky 10-key. This somewhat more robust entry is designed to work seamlessly across all of the Office 365 Android apps. It has a fancy clipboard, automatic searching through documents, a built-in translator, and other bells and whistles. None of them will cost you anything, but it only works in the US right now.

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Isn’t it painful to switch between apps just to complete your routine on-the-go tasks? Hub Keyboard, a Microsoft Garage project, lets you stay in context by bringing information from different services to your fingertips and help complete your tasks faster. Sign in with your Office 365 work or school account to unlock access to more information.

• Clipboard: Easily insert one of your recently copied items
• Documents: Grab and share URLs of Office 365 documents in OneDrive and SharePoint
• Contacts: Share information of a contact from your phone or your Office 365 account
• Translate: Translate what you are writing to another language

Kaizala - Chat | Act | Do

Kaizala is the latest app to come from Microsoft's small Garage team. This one is a business-focused chat client a la Slack or Hipchat, but it seems to be geographically limited to India for the time being. There's also a team tracking element for managers that lets you keep an eye on people's current assignment and other bits and pieces of their work life. Unlike some of the alternatives, Kaizala needs no online or local server in order to operate.

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Kaizala, a Microsoft Garage Project, helps you get your work done by tracking bills, jobs, location and much more - and, it's as simple as chat. Whether you are on the run, your work keeps you mobile or you work out of an office - stay on top of things that matter the most to you, your team and your business - manage your day-to-day business on chat.

Spotlight music

Spotify's first-party app is perfectly serviceable, but if you're intent on a purely Material experience, Spotlight would like your attention for a moment. It's an independently-made client for the service that's only available to paying subscribers (no freeloaders here) which translates all Spotify functions into a homogenous Android UI. It manages to incorporate all this plus gesture controls into a tiny 3.5MB app, which is impressive for a streaming music client.

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The lightning fast material design Spotify client. Built using Google's material design guidelines. No useless features to slow down or fill your device's memory, just your playlists at your fingertips.

Xcerpt for Twitter

You know how some people put an image that's nothing but text on Twitter as a cheeky way around its arbitrary character limit? Xcerpt is basically that, but distilled into a app. It lets you grab a screenshot of text from a web story, crop it down to fit nicely, then embed that image along with a link to the story plus a pithy comment in a single Twitter post. It's a nice tool for a very specific purpose, and a very specific user: one who likes using Twitter but can't quite come to grips with the central concept.

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Do you want to make the articles you share on Twitter more eye-catching – and more likely to be read? Do you wish you could share a passage from a web page AND comment on it in 140 characters? Xcerpt is a free app that lets you create a beautiful image of a web page passage to attach to your tweets. No longer will your followers scroll past the web articles you share. When you want to share an article, open Xcerpt and select a short passage to display (via copy and paste, choosing a screenshot, or sharing to Xcerpt).

VideoMeeting+ Better Meetings

This app will let you use your phone as a second camera on a video conferencing session in either Hangouts or Skype. This might seem frivolous, but it actually makes sense: you can use that second camera for looking at anything that's worth sharing (like, say, paperwork or your shiny new watch or a disturbing mole) without having to mess with a laptop or desktop and its semi-permanent webcam. Neat.

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Add freedom and flexibility to your video meeting by turning your phone into a second video camera. This free video chat app, designed for Skype and Hangouts, will enable you to display visuals like whiteboards and demonstrations more effectively, and give video conference participants up-close views of documents and other materials. You can also combine both mobile and computer feeds with our Dual Video feature. Requires desktop companion app, downloadable for free at http://www.cyberlink.com/vmplus/

ReverseTethering NoRoot PRO

Long, long ago, when I had a Tungsten T3, I wanted to use it to surf the Internet for no particular reason other than doing it. Since this was before the rise of mobile Wi-Fi, I had to rig up a crazy system that used the HotSync cable to piggy-back a connection off of my desktop computer. This app does pretty much the same thing, tunneling Internet access to and Android device over USB instead of mobile or Wi-Fi. It's interesting, works with Windows, OS X, and Linux, and doesn't require root.

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Reverse Tethering NoRoot allows you to share your computer's Internet connection with your Android device via a USB cable. Use Android apps that require Internet in places where you don't have or are not allowed to have a wireless Internet connection. Your Android device's Internet connection is slow and unstable? You've your Android device already connected to your computer for charging, file syncing or app debugging? Why not use your computer's fast, stable Internet connection on your Android device?

Boost for reddit BETA

Reddit's official app is still circling the parking lot of Android distribution, but if you're hungry for a mobile-focused interface and tools for your topical news browsing, take a bite out of Boost. It has all the usual hallmarks of a user-focused Reddit app, complete with login tools, post and subreddit filters, and robust image support. There's even a nice extended mode for tablets. All it's missing is an automatic downvote button for every TIL that's blatantly ripped from a front-page AMA (if you know what I mean).

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Boost your browsing experience with Boost for reddit. Enjoy the best content of the most popular social news site.

Sidewire — Live News Analysis

If you're a dedicated follower of American political news... well, I'm sorry. If you ever meet me in person I'll buy you however much alcohol it takes to forget about the last year (and possibly the next eight). But if you're still doggedly determined to be responsibly informed, Sidewire will organize the big news of the moment and break it down into bite-sized Twitter bits that lead to longer stories. The news is curated by some notable names, if you care about that sort of thing. Make mine a double.

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Sidewire cuts through the noise to help you easily find the most important political news and what insiders are saying about it. Instead of relying on social networks and piles of content to understand the day's political news, quickly read trending news and valuable insights from the community of insiders working in the news cycle. Sidewire has crowdsourced a growing and organic community of newsmakers, from both sides of the aisle, who work directly with political news coverage.

Docady - Manage Your Documents

Docady is an app designed specifically to manage important documents, either locally or with popular cloud storage services. It's not the first app to do this, but the range of tools here is impressive, including secure sharing, PDF exporting, and image support. There's one thing that isn't mentioned in the app description, and that's what kind of encryption (if any) is being used to secure local or remote documents and images.

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Organize your life now and get your tasks done in 1-Click. Easily discover and securely manage all of your (and your family's) important documents. We even find your documents automatically in online services (Such as: Dropbox, Gmail and more) and put them in the right place for you. Cool, right?!Docady, the ultimate app that ensures your most vital and important paperwork is organized, accessible, and viable - all in one secure place.

Clink

I spend entirely too much money on restaurants and fast food, if only because my cooking skills are basically neolothic: throw meat on fire and try to take it off before it turns black. Clink tries to discourage this wasteful behavior, or at least channel it into something more positive, by charging you real money every time you dine out and putting it into a special savings account. Exactly how much you punish yourself for a trip to Applebee's can be set in the app.

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Clink is a savings and investing application which facilitates your savings by making you save every time you dine out. When you register for Clink you are basically filling out all the required information to open an investment account. Once you fill the necessary information such as name, address, financial status etc. you will be prompted to choose your method of savings either by linking your credit card and having Clink track your dinning expenses and allocating a fixed portion for saving or by scheduling a saving plan where you set aside small amounts starting $1 a day.

TimeSet: Places to GO

Timeset is another image-focused social network a la Instagram, but this one is much more focused on location. The primary window of TimeSet is a Google Maps view, wherein you can zoom in to check out new photos specifically by city or attraction. It's all very globetrotter in its implementation, with a log that keeps track of where you've been and what you've done. It includes an instant message client, in case you want to keep up with your fellow jetsetters.

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TimeSet is a world of unlimited images posted in time and all over the world. The app lets you upload photos at a particular time and place and see what has taken place in the past and present. Upload photos of you and your friends, events, the changes happening in your city, you name it. Just make sure to describe your emotions, your hopes, happiness, basically your memories as these will always be recorded in time and last forever with your image.

Tapete

This is not a live wallpaper app. Nope, it's a wallpaper creation app, which roughly translates to "extremely basic image editor." But its intention is to let you make simple, stylish backgrounds without having to remember any Photoshop keyboard modifiers, and in that it succeeds, even if the clip art inserts are somewhat lacking in variety. The results can be exported to standard images for easy sharing.

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'Tapete' is the German word for wallpaper. Tapete enables you to create wallpapers according to your wishes - making yourself a graphic artist. In a few steps unique wallpapers will arise out of geometric shapes and colors.These images can be set as active wallpaper of your device instantly. You can use these images as well as greeting cards that you may share with your closests friends.

GoToMeeting (beta)

You know what GoToMeeting is. Even if you've never had to use it (you lucky dog you), you've probably seen the commercials everywhere. GoToMeeting has had an Android client for years, but here's a 2.0 version that, because it's a beta, is delivered in a separate app listing. It looks pretty nice - if you must use an annoying web conferencing app, this one wouldn't be too bad. It's not clear whether this app will be the new permanent home for GtM or whether the original listing will eventually be modified.

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Meet where you want with the power of GoToMeeting on your mobile device. You'll never miss another meeting — unless you want to. Use the GoToMeeting app to join, host or schedule a session from your Android device for easy online meetings when you're on the go. Download the free app to join or start a meeting in seconds.

• Join or host a meeting on any Android phone or tablet.
• Get alerts when a meeting is about to start. Never be late again.
• View presentations, mockups and reports — whatever is shown on screen.
• View attendee webcams.
• See all your upcoming meetings and join with a single tap.
• Attend GoToMeeting sessions wherever you are.
• Hand-off presentation control to anyone else in the meeting.
• Prefer phone over VoIP? You can also dial in with one tap.
• Chat with individual attendees or everyone in the meeting.

DC All Access

There's a new Batman and Superman movie coming out, where Superman is a brooding killer and Batman is a xenophobic nutjob. If that's not enough to get you to download this official DC Comics application, then maybe free access to digital versions of a few promotional comics is. The app also includes news and social tie-ins for DC's TV shows and other stuff, a few quizzes, promotional deals, and the like.

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DC ALL ACCESS is your daily DC. Anytime. Anywhere. Get official news, real time social updates, daily rewards, deals an upcoming exclusive DC emoji keyboard and much more. Presented in an exciting interface, DC ALL ACCESS showcases the best of the DC universe across movies, television, games and comics. Daily news updates, exclusive material and featured content for DC’s hottest properties from movies, TV, games and comics.

Sniff - Pet Social Network

Sniff says it's a pet social network. Not a social network specifically for pets - we've already seen that - it's just a network for particularly enthusiastic owners of pets. Which makes more sense: you all know that one person who posts 8 pictures of their cats to Facebook every day, so why not give them a place where they can get on with it? There's also a fairly large commercial element, so prepare to watch that annoying Blue dog food ad many times over.

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Sniff is a social network dedicated for pet owners, pet lovers and brands, providing a fun, personalized and interactive experience within the pet community. The application enables users to socialize experiences of their pets’ lives with other pet owners by exchanging posts, pictures and videos through an appealing approach. Moreover, it is a platform for brands to promote, advertise their products and services to target customers in a focused way.

Jukely

If you like to take in a show when you travel, or just want to keep abreast of the musical acts in your city, Jukely has the ticket. Well, sort of. It's available in a double-handful of the biggest US cities, anyway - if you want to know about the musical venues in Macon, Georgia, you're out of luck. It's a subscription service where you pay a monthly fee for access to partner concerts and events, so if you're not ready for a subscription, maybe stick to Google.

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Where’s the party at? Jukely’s got the answer in 17 cities.

Concerts are posted at 11 am every day. Claim your spot to unlimited shows at your favorite venues, or get access to special members-only events.

Discover new artists right in the app. A diverse list of musical genres means there's something for everyone.

Never worry about printing tickets or waiting in long door lines again. With Jukely, you’re always on the Guest List.

Sign up now and browse the app for free. If you don’t see a show you like within the first two weeks, you can cancel your subscription at no charge.

FITE - Fighting Sports TV

FITE is an app for ultimate fighting fans. Not fans of Ultimate Fighting, mind you - it doesn't appear to have that particular license. Nope, it's more focused on the homegrown, independent variations of "people beating the absolute crap out of each other" in their various abbreviated formats, plus some relevant low-budget movies and TV shows. The service works with Chromecast and other streaming video standards.

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FITE gives you instant access to free and pay-per-view live fighting sports events including MMA, wrestling, boxing and traditional martial arts. Open the app, select a program and tap play to instantly stream all the action on a big-screen TV. Check in with the app to see what's on and catch up with exclusive interviews, special commentary and backstage footage before every show. Free live events are added every week.

MSQRD

This app lets you record video and put funny stuff on top of your face afterward. That's it. Once you're done you can share to Facebook or Instagram. There are about half a dozen options at the moment, ranging from fake Iron Man to funny monkey to tiny dog.

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MSQRD now in beta. Update with new masks will be soon. Record video selfie animations, change the way you look and send it to friends via your favorite messengers and social networks.

Manufacturer And Tie-In Apps

Hands Free

Hands Free is Google's payment system, not to be confused with the other Google payment system or the Google payment system that crashed and burned. Nope, this one lets you pay at specific retailers just by saying "I'll pay with Google," after which some special magic hardware authenticates your voice and charges your Google Wallet account automatically. This is even more limited than most Google stuff, because only a few stores in San Francisco have the hardware to use it.

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Simplify your day. Pay Hands Free. Now accepted at select locations in Silicon Valley. You can find the full list of stores and new merchant updates in the app.

Hands Free allows you to make in-store payments without ever reaching for your phone or wallet.
• No digging around for cash, credit cards, or loose change
• Just say “I’ll pay with Google” at checkout
• Your identity is confirmed and the charge is processed securely
• Purchase details are sent right to your phone

Samsung Flow

This app lets you unlock the Samsung Tab Pro S (a Windows machine a la the Surface, not an Android tablet) with your fingerprint. Not that the Tab Pro S has a fingerprint reader - no, that would be too direct and obvious. You unlock it with a Bluetooth connection to your accompanying Samsung flagship phone. Surely at that point it would be much easier to just log into Windows with a password? Oh well, I suppose some Samsung engineers were instructed to create brand synergy out of thin air, and this is the best they could do.

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You can easily unlock and securely login to your TabPro S with a simple tagging gesture of your Samsung fingerprint capable mobile device enabled by Bluetooth. You can read and reply to the push notifications of your mobile device from TabPro S. Also, Samsung Flow intelligently senses the data connection status of your TabPro S and automatically sets up a Wi-Fi hotspot of your mobile device when needed.

Lenovo Family Cloud

Ye gods, how is Lenovo's Android skin still so ball-punchingly awful? It's as if someone tried to force-feed iOS into AOSP code with no thought to which parts of both interfaces fail to work when you stitch them together like a Frankenstein monster made of icons and gradients. Oh, sorry, I was supposed to be talking about the app. It's a remote storage all that lets you back up files and media to local PCs, and you can retrieve and play back files as well. It doesn't need Lenovo mobile hardware to run. It still looks offensively terrible.

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The Lenovo Family Cloud transforms your computer into a data storage center. It backs up photos and family videos from your phone automatically, and lets you share data with your family easily. With its smart photo grouping and searching features based on face recognition and scene analysis, all you have to do is to backup your photos to the Family Cloud, and the software will automatically perform detection and recognition in the background.